Abyssal Awakening

Sensing the sudden change of the energy around Alice, Cayla glanced over and her pupils constricted in shock.

[Stop! Don't go any further than that!] She shouted out in a panic.

But Alice didn't seem to hear her as Cayla gritted her teeth and glanced at Alyss.

[You have to force Alice out of this!]

Not even taking a moment to question why, Alyss understood that it must be serious if Cayla was panicking like this.

Without hesitation, she slammed her palms down as golden chains manifested around her body.

Dark hands grasped at Alice and their position was switched.

Manifesting her consciousness into Alice's body, Alyss opened her eye and her entire body froze. She felt as though she was submerged into a thick viscous liquid that prevented her from moving at all. Her limbs were stuck in place and even her breathing halted.

She needed to breathe!

Alyss opened her mouth but her lungs refused to work.

With no other choice, dark limbs burst out from her shadow and punched against her chest, forcing her to collapse on the ground as she gasped for air.

Meanwhile, Alice let out a groan as she sat up in her mental space.

Clutching her head, she glanced up and saw Cayla's expression.

Immediately, Alice paled and sat on her knees, drooping her shoulders.

She knew she messed up with how livid Cayla looked.

[Pray tell, what were you trying to do master?] Cayla's smile twitched.

'I thought that… if my fifth Sigil expelled me from the realm, inversing it with duality meant that I could anchor myself further and get a buff from the realm.' Alice replied honestly.

Hearing her reply, Cayla was stun locked momentarily as she opened her mouth a few times but no words came out.

[In all my time with you, this is probably the stupidest thing I've seen you attempt. I want you to run through your thought process with me carefully and explain why you even thought it would work.] Cayla massaged her nose bridge as Alice coughed awkwardly.

'Well… I just thought that maybe the inverse-'

[Master, listen to me. I don't mean the theoretical. I mean the logical, the rules of this realm. Something that could support your theories. Of all the things for you to do… I just praised your free thinking too.] Cayla sighed.

[When you reinforce your connection to the realm, USUALLY, this means harmonization. You resonate yourself with the nature around you, drawing power from the ambient energy.

[However, what you did wasn't harmonization. The opposite of exile is joining. To fuse two things together. By channelling the power of duality, you're not anchoring down and harmonizing with nature. Instead, you're becoming part of it. You were slowly disassembling yourself to become part of the ambient energy. And I don't believe I need to explain why that's a bad thing.] Cayla tapped her foot in annoyance but her reply made Alice blink.

If the inverse of exile means to fuse, then… Wouldn't that be perfect? She didn't need to fuse with the realm. No, this isn't what she needed duality for. If it allows the process of fusion, then it'll allow her to merge conflicting elements of her powers together!

Void Flux for example. Her attack drags in energy before combusting it in the spark. By applying the energy of the Void into this attack, a singularity is then formed in the centre.

However, what if she were to fuse her fifth Sigil while activating this attack? To merge the two together so that whoever is hit by this ability has their energy siphoned away at the point of impact? Even if they want to run, they cannot.

And if she was to push this theory further, what if she was to apply this to Tiamat's ability? Her power of the Apocalypse drags the energy from the world to fuel her attack. It's what causes the phenomenon of the world losing colour.

So if she were to inverse this, would it expel more energy initially and then follow up with an explosive absorption?

[No, I do not like that look in your eyes.] Cayla immediately shook her head.

She didn't even know what Alice was thinking about, but she knew that whatever she said had caused Alice to get another crackhead idea in that mind of hers.

'No no, this time it'll be safe for me.' Alice grinned as she switched with Alyss again and disguised herself.

Climbing out of her room, she made a beeline dash towards the beach.

'What the f*ck is twinnie up to now???' Alyss asked as she was still feeling the effects of almost fusing with the realm.

[If I knew, I would tell you.] Cayla let out a fatigued sigh.

Arriving at the beach, Alice could see the lighthouses reflecting light in the distance. There weren't many people on the beach either which was perfect for Alice.

Taking a deep breath, she focused her mind.

She repeated her understanding of duality in her mind as energy gathered around her hands.

Alice had an idea to link everything into a single sequence that could help her achieve a far more powerful attack than before.

But first, she couldn't allow the others to trace it back to her and so she disguised herself as Calista once more.

The first step was Tiamat's Sigil + Duality.

What would've been a convergence of energy now drew itself from within her body.

The reservoir of power from within her core began to leak out, transforming into a turbulent maelstrom of energy that shimmered with a myriad of colours.

Strands of energy soon manifested themselves into reality as a light show of radiance danced around Alice.

If Tiamat's power originally drained the world of colour, the inverse now expelled colour into the space around her.

Countless strands that are normally only visible to Alice untangled themselves from her body, latching onto the world.

Alice could feel her enemy being expelled out into the world as an explosion of light erupted from her back. Lightning crackled across the fabric of reality. Through the cracks, an infinite weave of energy pulsed out, creating a celestial array of dancing lights.

Streaks of electric blue and radiant gold manifested around Alice's hand as cold sweat dripped down her face but her smile only ever grew wider.

Behind her, ethereal wings of energy pulsed out one last time as it finished expelling energy!

*BANG!!!!

A thunderous roar of a dragon could be heard with Alice in the centre as a pattern began to emerge in front of it.

It was no array, no ritual, no action of Alice's own will.

It was simply the natural manifestation of energy that was attempting to direct its focus forward. A natural array that enhances its power!

Circles of energy formed a ring in front of Alice with lightning chaining across each ring, empowering it with the same electric blue that danced around her.

Civilians evacuated from the beach, crying out in shock while Guards rushed towards her.

They wanted to stop her but the surge of energy was far too strong! If they approached any closer, they feared being turned to ash by the energy!

With the first ring, Alice could see the formation of the second, third, fourth and fifth!

As though a magnifying glass in the sunlight, these rings served to amplify and focus all of this energy that she expelled from her body!

As it reached the sixth ring, the sand around her began to turn to glass as the light around her as grew to the point it was akin to daylight on the beach!

Alice could feel it. This was one of the key missing pieces to her skill. A formation of a natural array like this to focus all of her power!

Just a little more! Just a little more and it'll reach the seventh ring!

However, her joy was short lived as the series of auras approaching her location was bad news.

She could sense the aura of Tristan in the distance as moonlight filtered down from the sky.

She wanted to let it reach the seventh ring but with the current situation, it was going to be impossible.

Therefore, she'll cut her experiment short.

Taking a deep breath, a maniacal grin appeared on Alice's face as the countless strands of energy around her converged towards her hand.

Artificial Resonance!

A singularity spun to life in her hand, forming a new variant of Void Flux that didn't require the use of her second Sigil.

A Void Flux that completely fed off the energy she expelled using the inverse of Tiamat's Sigil!

However, she wasn't done with just one Void Flux.

No!

For this kind of attack, just one was going to be a waste.

Waving her hand, five more Void Fluxes began to form simultaneously in the centre of each ring as chains of energy sparked between the six nodes.

As the energy reached its apex, Alice created a seventh flux above her fingers. She brought her middle and thumb together as she used her spare hand to grab her right arm.

With a single snap, she detonated her attack.

###

Standing on his boat, Darrow had a deep frown on his face as he watched the sinking waves trying to repair the damage. The entire sea, split in two. The seabed, scorched by the rampant energy and a bed of glass on the beach.

He wondered if he could block that kind of attack if he was given the time he needed to prepare.

While it was possible to keep himself safe to some extent, the same couldn't be said for his fleet or anyone he sought to protect.

The only thing he could remember was the figure of a girl standing within that torrent of light. That maniacal grin had permanently imprinted itself into his mind.

Since she didn't aim it towards the city, he could only hope that she had no hostility otherwise even with all three forces combined, they might won't be able to avert the disaster.